Michael Ratcliffe is deeply interested in the role Open Source projects will play in making a world where education and food is easily accessible for everyone, everywhere. He has been working with aquaponics systems for 5 years, recently concentrating his work on removing educational and financial barriers many will face with aquaponics. He is working with the Aquaponics Lab to turn this from a statement to a reality.

Aquaponics is a relatively hard system to manage, we need open source plug and play automated control system, no knowledge required, before we see the rapid adoption of this farming technique. “In developing countries there is a major need for cheap sustainable local food production, we have to adapt a hacker’s mindset to work with what little resources are available to achieve the result we need” The means to grow food, no matter the location or financial situation is a major hurdle to overcome and in his opinion one that only open source solutions can achieve.